Little Wild Street, London, Baptist Church

Little Wild Street, London, Baptist Church – [A gap in the church records occurs from 1777-95]. The records pick up with the death of Samuel Stennett, the pastor, in August 1795. One of the trustees is a Mr. Benjamin Freeman (unpaginated). Joseph Jenkins of Walworth preached the funeral sermon. Freeman’s daughter Esther is in the church as well. Mr. Freeman was a messenger to the Dissenting Minister’s Fund for 1797. Joseph Hughes requested his dismission from the church in June 1797 in order to form the church at Battersea. There is also a James Smith, a trustee of the church, who died in 1821. On 13 October 1800 Benjamin Coxhead became pastor. Mr. Freeman is dismissed to the church at Unicorn Yard October 1801. In March 1803 Mr. Stephen Freeman, who had long absented himself from the services, was visited by messengers from the church. On 29 March 1804, Hugh Russel and William Anderson, from the Independent church in Aberdeen, but who had separated from the church on account of baptism, were received into the church at Little Wild Street. A note under the minutes of 28 June 1804 reads: “Our Pastor reported that Bror Russel & Bror Anderson have for some time past had views to the ministerial Employ; and proposed that the Church o invite them to exercise their gifts before them for their judgment. The Proposal was acceded to by the Church, and several seasons were agreed on for hearing them.” Under the minutes for 2 May 1804, we find: “Bror Russel & Bror Anderson having addressed the Members of the Church several times from passages of the sacred Scriptures: It was moved seconded and agreed that the Judgment of the Church respecting their ministerial gifts be taken next Lords Day Morning after Public Worship, the members to be stayed for that purpose.” On that Sunday the decision was made to suspend judgment for a time. Under the minutes for 29 August 1804, we find: “It was proposed from the Chair and unanimously agreed, that Bror William Anderson appears to us to have ministerial Gifts; and that we do agree to call him to the Ministry, at present under the direction of our Pastor.” The same was said for Russel. At the meeting for 27 December 1804, Anderson signs the minutes. Under the minutes for 28 February 1805, we find: “It was moved seconded and agreed that the Church do recommend the Cases of Brors Russel and Anderson, now students at Bristol, as soliciting some further aid from the Baptist Fund.” Anderson signs for the meeting on 30 May 1805. See Church Book, Little Wild Street, 1736-1805, Angus Library, Regent’s Park College, Oxford; for more on the church. James Smith was chosen as a deacon in 1773, and he would be a leading figure in the church and for many years one of the treasurers of the Baptist Fund (Christopher Woollacott, Brief History of the Baptist Church in Little Wild Street, Lincoln’s-Inn Fields; from 1691 to 1858 [London, no date], 41).